Laurence Frederic Rushbrook Williams, CBE, FRSA (1890–1978) was a British historian and civil servant who spent part of his working life in India, and had an abiding interest in Eastern culture.
[2][3] He built up a school of Mughal studies at the University of Allahabad,[4] where he worked as professor of Modern Indian History between 1914 and 1920.
[1] He was briefly Eastern Services Director of the BBC, and also worked on the editorial staff of The Times (London) between 1944 and 1955.
[4] He became interested in Sufism through his contact with Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah and later edited an anthology of contributions to a symposium in honor of the work of the noted Sufi author, Idries Shah.
[6] Williams wrote several works on India, Asia and the Middle East, among them the following: